Gas turbine engines are used to power aircraft, watercraft, power generators, and the like. Adjacent components in a gas turbine engine are often separated by a small gap. The small gap allows for variations in manufacturing tolerance of the adjacent components and for expansion/contraction of the components that occurs during operation of the gas turbine engine. Expansion and contraction of the adjacent components is typically caused by the selection of different materials for each component or by different temperatures experienced by each component.
The small gaps between adjacent components may be sealed to prevent the leakage of air through the small gaps during operation of the turbine engine. Seals used to block the leakage of air through the small gaps are sometimes designed to account for changes in the dimension of the gap to be closed.